Best CAR for a cyclist? Gentlemen, post your engines...
 

My wife totaled her 1998 Volvo XC wagon last week. Don't worry, it doesn't take much to 'total' a '98 Volvo with 165,000 miles. She rear ended an SUV @ 5mph or so. The other car didn't have a scratch. Our car? The body shop initial estimate was $6500 or so. The insurance company is sending us a check for about $7500, total loss. New car shopping time.

I drive a 2004 Acura TL. Love the car, but that will become my wife's ride now for a few reasons. So the new car will be mine. I needed AWD, reasonable fuel economy (24-25mpg + hwy), a hatchback or wagon layout, good safety, good reliability, < $35K (preferably $30K or less). Considered the following:

• 2007 Acura RDX

• Subaru Outback

• Honda CRV (the newly redesigned model)

• 2007 Toyota RAV 4

• 2007 Mazda CX-7

I wound up choosing the Outback. Which surprised me. Here were my impressions:

• RDX: great car, much like my Acura TL. Gorgeous and spacious interior. The priciest of these candidates (base model $33,615 very fully equipped). It's a 'crossover'. But it didn't cross over enough for me. Still felt like an SUV to me. I don't like SUV's. Rear hatch area (with seats in upright position) wasn't very useable. Couldn't fit a bike frame flat on the floor. Next.

• Honda CRV. Not enough HP. Too much of a Mom's car. Next.

• RAV 4. Didn't like the interior. Next.

• CX-7. Got in a couple. Interior exuded Mazda cheesiness to me. Next.

• Subaru Outback. Ah. The Outback. Wasn't going to even test drive one of these, but I've been looking at them for a while and everbody that has one likes it, so why not? And guess what I'm getting? Right. A 2007 Outback XT Limited. (Automatic, my wife doesn't drive stick). Smaller than the RDX (the close runner up). Narrower. But bigger hatch area that's MUCH more useable (bike frame fits easily on the floor with wheels off). Comes with factory rack, lots of cargo carrying options (including a trailer hitch that you can add and then mount a carrier on).

What really sold me on the Outback is that with that 243 HP Boxer motor and Momo steering wheel with push button (aka paddle) shifters, it's like driving a BMW with an Outback rear. In other words a CAR. Not an SUV, minivan, Honda Element, etc. With just enough utility for a bike weenie. Full time AWD, safest car on the road (read the crash tests). Downside: smaller than the RDX, interior not as posh. Upside: I prefered the drive (simlar HP, 400 lbs lighter). Ironically the RDX may actually peform better in tests like slaloms through the cones, but the Outback feels better behind the wheel to this driver. $30,001 out the door for the car plus remote start and homelink rearview mirror (another $450 or so) plus tax, tags. List price on the car was about $33K. Bought the car for dealer cost minus $750 Subaru incentive for a new 2007. One dealer went ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE HOLDBACK (and I've never seen THAT before) to win me over, but I stuck with the local dealer ($600 more) for a few reasons. So it's a good time to buy a car. Bad time to be selling them. The car biz is mostly sucking wind in my area (NY Metro area). The Internet is good for buyers, bad for dealers. I can't imagine how tough it is to sell cars these days (it was hard enough 15 years ago when I did it @ Mercedes).

I would have liked to have considered a VW Passat 4Motion wagon. But no more Euro cars for me. They all turn out to be repair bill nightmares when they get older. Japanese cars just run. And run.

What's in your driveway weenies?

I don't have a car (my license even expired a few days ago! Argh!), but I've heard of people building their own quick-release racks into the back of Outbacks.

I used to drive an '88 Acura Legend. Total low-self-esteem businessman car. Nice engine though. But no good place to put bikes. I got it in 1999 with 40,000 miles on it and when I moved to the UK and got rid of it in 2003 I'd added 130,000 miles (you know, Ohio to Florida a few times, a jaunt out to Los Angeles, lots of Ohio to east coast, etc., etc.).

I bought my wife a 2006 Eclipse GT eight days ago. Fun car...but no good for cycling-related activities. I can barely fit myself in it, much less a bike frame. Or a skewer set, for that matter.

This is my what's in my driveway, although it's actually my sidewalk, not my driveway, and it doesn't have an engine. ;)

http://img486.imageshack.us/img486/1...adfiets2fu.jpg

When I do get the chance to drive, then i usually drive this. :)

http://img65.imageshack.us/img65/6002/mercsl4wu.jpg

Nice MB convertible. Looks like a mid-80's 560SL. I was selling Mercedes 20 years ago (I was in the car biz for nearly 10 years) and I think that color was Desert Taupe if memory serves. Lousy car for cycling. GREAT car for crusing babes : ).

good call. it's an '88.

you're right about the bike part. :)

Oh yes, about cars having 'no good place to put bikes'. That is sometimes true, but I have found that I can fit a bike frame in the trunk of the last several sedans I've had without too much trouble once I pop the wheels off. The drill is: pop the wheels, put the frame in, blanket on top of the frame, wheels over that. My TL has the smallest trunk of my last few cars but a bicycle will still fit inside- and I have a seatpost that is very extended (I have long legs). But it still does fit. Barely. I can even fit another bike in the back seat (again, wheels off, I put a sheet over everything to avoid grease stains).

MTB's? They fit too. But taking the wheels of an MTB is a much bigger pain than a road bike.

In my final concession to total bike weenieosity, my Outback will have bike racks on the roof. I do hate roof racks too. God help me. Cycling has finally taken over my car too.

i had a teammate who used to put his bike on his porsche, and drive to races. once, when the team was heading to the fitchburg SR, he had his and his GF bikes on it. poor guy got nailed for speeding on the way to and from.

State Troopers in Mass just loved the red paint job. :D

On fast cars the color is known as 'Arrest Me Red'.

And there's the difference between bike racing in the USA and Europe. In the US, the amateur bike racers often drive Porsches and BMWs. In Europe half of them can't actually AFFORD a car. I can only imagine what the good 'ol days were like for riders like V. Ekimov in the former Soviet Union.

Get the Subaru. I had a WRX sedan, and loved it. No problems in 4 years of owning it. That's pretty good when buying a model in its first year of production.

However, the Wagon version of the WRX would be a great option. Except for the insurance costs. The Outback is based of the same chassis, so it should be fairly similar in terms of quality.

The Saab 9-2x is a derivative of the WRX wagon with a nicer interior, plusher suspension, etc. Not sure they still make it though.

my vote is for the scooby(WRX wagon)

i think that's a slightly outdated concept.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v223/botto/car.jpg

I have a 2000 Rav4. Yeah it's ugly, but when I took out the back seats I can haul 3 bikes, two people and gear for the two people (great for stage races!) and that's not even using the roof!

My assistant here @ my office who drives a 280+ HP AWD Mitsubishi Evo (about the closest thing to a race car I've ever driven in street trim) calls the WRX's he regularly waxes 'Scoobysnacks'. I kind of like that. He's a former bike weenie. He's gone over to the Dark Side (Japanese car tuning/Tiki culture).

I said MOST of them. I'm sure there's at least one yuppie on the Continent who races bicycles. And you found him : ).

A Thule rack on a BMW? That's like hobnail boots on a fashion model. I can't stand it.

seriously. i've been living, riding, and racing on and off in Europe for +/-14 years.

i remember thinking when i first moved to scotland that the biking scene seemed TOTALY different than the Central Park/CRCA scene that I had just left. that'd be the case wherever i moved to, because the whole NYC/CP scene is nothing if not unique.

regardless, while the guys were sometimes rougher around the edges, they all had good gear, and a variety of jobs. most of my training partners didn't have cars, but that was because they didn't have drivers licenses.

the cycling scene in belgium (which i only have a passing experience of) and NL (which i have an extensive knowledge of) is more or less the same as scotland, and the US for that mattter - you've got riders from all walks of life.

btw - the guy behind the wheel grew up in a pretty rough project in Scotland, so he's not your typical yuppie. ;)

"In the US, the amateur bike racers often drive Porsches and BMWs"

Not me, can't afford one. I have a 2000 accord with a roof rack that I don't really like. I usually take the front wheel off, fold down the back seat and put the bike in the trunk when driving it to races. My wife has CR-V that I fold half the back seat down, take off the front wheel again, and throw the bike + gear in the back. Still room for my wife and daughter (and all the necessary things to occupy her at the race).

Nice choice on the outback, you can't beat jap cars these days, good milage and usually run forever if taken care of.

I defer to your direct experience. I'm sure the amateur racing scene isn't too different - after all, you do need the time/money for training/gear regardless of your location. Half the amateur peloton here are guys like me: riders who essentially suck @ racing, but who love it, and are peloton dogs. And the cool thing about bike racing is that every dog has his day. So even talentless schmoos like me occasionally get in the breakaway and get a result. But results were so rare for me - and that's not why I ever raced. I like riding fast with good riders. And I'm sure it's not different around the world.

And then there's EURO (cringe). Where IS that insufferable egomanical whack job these days? I miss him.

I have a Subaru Outback 2.5 XT (stick) also. Best car I've ever owned. I think you've made a good decision! Enjoy!

I've put my bike in my Evo 1 time, and if the Evo wagon was sold in the US I'd have one. My current bike hauler is my Mazda Protege5.

Onkey is that the 175 hp non-turbo engine? I would guess that's enough engine for that car, particularly with a stick. The XT Ltd.'s turbo seems like the hot rod version of the Outback. You pay a fairly stiff premium for it too - but you get a faster Outback. I would have preferred the BMW AWD 3 series wagon, but that would have gone over $35K and it would have put me in another Euro car. I do love Volvos/BMWs/Saab (owned 'em all) but we put 5 GRAND in 'minor' repairs on my '98 Volvo between 130K and 160K miles (a 'minor' repair on a Volvo is anything under $1200 or so).

On a Scoobysnack you change the oil (if you remember that is) and the car runs 250K+ miles. OK, maybe you have to replace the shocks @ 190K.

And here's the interesting part: 5-10 years back, I didn't think the Japanese cars weren't nice enough for me. The Saabs/Volvos etc. were that much nicer than the Toyotas/Hondas/Subarus. Not now. The Japanese cars have made huge strides in design. So they are starting to eat the Euro companies' lunch too. VW is getting totally slammed in dropping sales. And their cars don't suck. They're gorgeous. But they BREAK. And then they're expensive to fix.

You make cars that break and consumers will gravitate to the ones that don't. I have all Japanese cars in my driveway now. And I've been a Euro car weenie for 20 years. I think they call that 'the handwriting on the wall'. I wonder if they're reading it in Stuttgart and Sweden?

DUDE. I saw that Evo wagon in some car magazine. And then I read it was Japan only. I'm with you on that car. I got chills up my car weenie spine.

If they sold that here it would be in my driveway. And I'd take it out looking for Scoobysnacks : ).

Yes it's a Volvo and I love it....

The daily driver, works great for our Canadian Winters and grid roads to the farm

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/5763/hp28cm.jpg